Rory Montivelo

Rory was the KLA leader who came closest to winning independence from the Shivians. Born to a pair of street musicians, his life was a struggle from the start. He survived by doing a series of odd jobs and married Reagan Motts in 1800. Their son, Kingsley, was born in 1811. It seems that he joined the KLA the same time he married Reagan and somehow became friends with Heron Massie. The First Shadow War and the KLA’s campaign of terror started two years later. Although Heron and Rory were very active during this period (Heron as the KLA’s doctor and Rory as one of James Connor’s ‘Twelve Apostles”) neither took part in the botched assassination attempt on the Shivian President. Connor and a number of other KLA members were arrested and executed, but Heron and Rory managed to become leaders of the KLA. A year later, the Shivians met with them to discuss a peace deal: if the Killers helped in the war effort the Shivians would grant the Free Killer State. They agreed and both fought during the Battle of Trippé, during which Rory lost a hand. After the First Shadow War, the Shivians refused to honor their agreement and Rory left the KLA. His son was born three years later, but his wife slid into depression. Rory did what he could, but he could not find work because of his disability and soon his son was serving as a chimney sweep to help pay for the bills, His wife came down with a fever in 1819 and, despite his best efforts, she died a year later, sending Rory into a depressive spiral. If Kingsley had not met Caterina, a kindly Shivian who took the pair in, Kingsley may have grown up an orphan. Sometime between 1820 and 1826, Rory and Caterina fell in love. It seems that, even though Kingsley claims otherwise in his memoirs, relations between Caterina and the young Killer were frigid and he did not approve of their marriage in 1826. Rory and Caterina moved to Ferdern (without Kingsley) and settled down in a small town called Morristown. Caterina served as a teacher in the local school while Rory helped a neighbor sell his wares at the various fairs and festivals that took place all over Ferdern. They seemed to have lived happy and uneventful lives and Rory died in 1835. He was fifty-three years old.